To fancy a pair of Mary's knickers?

[Freshlettice]

Although not Mary in them
Seriously, I rather like the black and cream ones.

Sorry but it's another example of the completely different worlds people live in. £10 on a single pair of knickers is jusy laughable to me, sorry. It's just not something that will ever cross my family's mind - it's not possible for us. We can stretch to the £7 for 5 packs from M&S but they have to last for 8-10 years - that's the average time I replace underwear & boxers. £10 for one pair is fantastical to me.

You manage to make M and S 7 packs last for 8-10 years?!?

Well done you, I find they lose their stretch, get bobbly, faded, trim comes off after a year or so.

sparkle12mar08 They're £7 now? Oh dear, inflation. Used to be £5. (And they were the worst knickers I ever bought. I went back to Peacocks after that.)

It's a sign of how cheap things have become that 5 pairs of pants is the same cost as a couple of coffees and cake in Starbucks.

Yes I do, I have to. Replacing underwear for me just doesn't rate on the list of priorities in terms of paying bills, taking care of the kids etc I only last year replaced some that I'd first bought when at uni 14 years ago. Now I will admit they were on their last legs

Why don't they do some good cheerful colourful cotton knickers for wearing day to day? I'm sure they could charge a small premium for being fair trade and British.

Fancy knickers for £18 a pair are always going to be harder to sell!

sparkle - WMYP sell their seconds for two pounds a pair. There's nowt wrong with them (I own several pairs), and you're still supporting pants with ethics :).

WMYP have just blogged about this very issue - here to explain the pricing strategy, as it's quite sad how little cheap pants actually sell for!

you could probably comment on that post to ask about cotton pants too btw, as Becky responds pretty quickly to queries IME! :)

Sparkle, my DH has underpants that are a similar vintage. He keeps his indefinitely, at least until the - ahem -undercarraige area gives way and they become crotchless (poss would keep them longer than that if I didn't forcibly retire them). It's not really financial necessity in his case.

Liberty's have already sold out! Those apprentices must working their butts off now! Boots are donating £1 from every pair to Macmillan Cancer Support and they are in stock at Selfridges. I found information here

I might buy one or two pairs if they weren't nylon, I don't mind a bit of synthetic trim or an insert at the front, but the basic pant bit has to be cotton otherwise it's icky.

Their explanation of the price is a bit disingenuous though - because to quote:

"Customer pays £18 to shop
Shop gets £15, government gets £3
Shops buys from manufacturer for approx £6.00
From £6 x however many sales, manufacturer has to pay wages, rent, insurance, training, materials, taxes, etc etc and make their own profit so that they can afford to keep going"

But they aren't selling through a shop, but they are selling them on their own through their own website. So actually they get £15 and gvt gets £3 - and they indicate themselves that over £9 of that is profit.

So I can understand why the prices might be higher the more middle men you put in (as more people are trying to make a profit from the sale of the single pair of pants), but that should mean thast when people sell them themselves on their own websites they should be much cheaper...

Unless I am missing something huge.

No likey at at tbh!

I will buy a pair, just to see how good quality they are.

laurie when yours arrive will you come back and let me/us know how they fit and quality please?

forgot to say - HATE the name. It is just tacky.

I'm wearing the black ones today - they are very comfortable and I like the lace. I think I can only really tell the quality once I've washed them but I'm pretty happy so far.

There is nothing in the gusset, just a plain cotton insert, no name of the maker or anything.

The stitching is good.